


Now or Never

by EarthsickWithoutYou



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Angst and Fluff and Smut, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-22
Updated: 2017-10-22
Packaged: 2019-01-21 10:57:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12456204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EarthsickWithoutYou/pseuds/EarthsickWithoutYou
Summary: Sara runs into Rip soon after he disbands the team of Legends at the beginning of Season 3.  When he invites her over for dinner, they are finally honest with each other about their feelings.





	Now or Never

“That’ll be eighty-four dollars and seventy-three cents,” the checkout clerk chirped as Sara Lance flicked despondently through the bills in her wallet. The woman waited patiently, a smile plastered blankly on her round, friendly face as Sara considered which of the food and household supply items on the belt she should put back. She was ten dollars short. 

Sara sighed, reaching sadly for the bag of dill pickle potato chips which she supposed weren’t an _absolute_ necessity, but just then, someone strolled up beside her and placed a gentle hand on her arm, warm breath caressing her face as a smooth English accent remarked, “She’ll be taking everything, actually. It’s on me.” 

Although electric tingles were zinging up and down her spine and her hand trembled almost imperceptibly, Sara trained her features into a resentful glare, albeit one that was inevitably smoldering. When it came to Rip Hunter, who’d just saved her chips and gummy bears, Sara always got… _smoldery._

“I don’t need any favors from you,” she snipped, rolling her eyes as she placed the bags in her cart nonetheless, not caring to make a scene. She had bigger problems to deal with than Rip “You Legends are all failures, you’re fired from time traveling” Hunter, that was for sure. _Liar,_ an annoying little voice cackled in the back of her mind. Sara frowned and rolled her shoulders back, then wheeled her cart forward until she’d reached the exit. Once outside, she reached for her denim jacket and shrugged it on before crossing her arms and popping one hip out confrontationally. “What are you doing here anyway, Rip?”

“Believe it or not, I’ve been grocery shopping,” Rip smiled, holding up a plastic bag of food. It seemed as if rather than causing him any discomfort, her petulant attitude charmed him. Her mouth betrayed her, quirking up in a tiny smile. 

God, why did he still have this same effect on her, drawing her into his orbit, making her long to stay there? He’d thrown Sara and the other Legends aside like they were garbage just because they had made one mistake that he himself had participated in! Surely she needed to stay fucking mad a little longer than her heart seemed to be inclined to.

“Where are you headed, if you don’t mind my asking?” Rip inquired as Sara replaced her cart among the others and, out of habit, slid her own shopping bags onto her arms.

“I’m walking home; I live just down the street from here,” Sara explained.

“Oh, come on,” Rip pleaded, “Let me help you with those—why don’t I give you a ride? Better yet…would you like to come to my place for dinner?” Her eyes grew wide with surprise and confusion. _What?_ She searched his own sea-glass blue gaze for answers on this surprising courteousness. Sara thought she should feel offended and continue to rebuff his charity, but she could tell from his intent, hopeful face that Rip didn’t mean to be condescending at all.  


“I’ve got more than enough food for two,” Rip continued. “Sara, I’d like to explain myself a bit more to you…I’m uncomfortable with the way we left off before.”

At that, she had to laugh, handing him several of her bags because yeah, come to think of it, he owed her. “Rip, the way we left off was with you forbidding me, the Captain of the Wave Rider, the leader of the Legends, from continuing to save the world with my team. It wouldn’t take much to improve on that.” Her voice was icy, and she saw him slightly recoil, finally nervous, like he saw now how immense the divide between them had become, all at his doing.

“Um,” Rip continued, shifting the bags in his hands slightly, shuffling his feet as if he needed to move in some way to take attention away from the war of emotions with which he was grappling, “Please?” 

Sara sighed heavily. “Fine, but you’d better be a good cook.”

“Nice place,” she commented a little while later as Rip opened the door of his posh apartment. He set the bags down on the kitchen island as Sara scanned the place, letting out a whistle. “Damn. Sure beats the hell out of the dump I’ve been holing up in while I work _retail._ ” She felt a new flash of anger and asked, “Remind me again why I’m here?”

Rip placed Sara’s milk and eggs in his fridge and began washing vegetables, looking almost penitent. “You’re hungry? Oh, and are you thirsty? I’ve got—”

Sara reached up and pulled a bottle of tequila down from on top of the fridge, then leaned down to grab a lime from the produce drawer. Rip had the audacity to wink at her as he slid a cutting board her way and passed her a small knife, plus two shot glasses. Once again, Sara wanted to smile and couldn’t one hundred percent repress the instinct. Yup, it felt like at least 66.7% of a smile had curved her lips against her better judgement.

Sara climbed onto a high-back chair at the island, watching as Rip boiled potatoes, sautéed spinach, and fried steaks. Huh. He knew what he was doing. So the boy could cook, after all. She poured out two shots of tequila and helped herself to one, wishing it made her feel more fortified for what she was about to say.

“I feel like I don’t even know who you are anymore,” Sara admitted. Despite the small size of the kitchen, her voice seemed so loud all of a sudden, practically echoing off the walls as if they were in Notre Dame Cathedral or something. She knew it was only the vulnerable way she felt about the words which made it seem that way.

Rip met her eyes, his expression very serious, and murmured, “I know that.” He downed his own shot and went back to his cooking, as if unsure how to explain himself.

Sara was unable to avoid admiring his tall, slender body as he moved around being all domestic and shit. It was obnoxiously adorable and made her yearn for _her_ Rip Hunter, the man she’d known since he recruited her to join the Legends. The broken-hearted, lost soul who was one of the bravest, most clever people she’d ever met. Her partner in many ways, a mentor and confidant, with a sizzling attraction between them that made the air thick with tension during every moment they interacted. That was a feeling Sara had never dared to act on, respectful of his grief over losing his family, worried that a move on her part might somehow damage the friendship between them which was precious, fragile, a priority.

So who was this guy who so completely did _not_ find Sara to be a priority in his life? Who’d reinvented himself by leaving behind the friends who had helped him destroy his family’s killer and save the world time and time again? The clean-shaven, serious, holier-than-thou man in the blue suit had seemed like a stranger to her since the first time she’d seen him.

Fifteen minutes for Sara, since he’d said he was taking a break to go and find himself. Five years for Rip. What had happened to him?

“What happened to you, Rip?” She said, giving voice to a thought she’d been too prideful to release up until that moment, until his regretful, affectionate glare stripped her bare. 

Rip sighed, turning off the stove. He leaned his back against the counter and crossed his arms, the sleeves of his crisp white shirt rolled up, his blue trousers unnecessarily close-fitting in a way Sara found too enticing for comfort. She knew she shouldn’t be thinking about how sexy he was in the middle of this mess between them, but it was impossible to ignore.

“I felt redundant, as you know,” He began to explain.

“And I told you that you were a Legend, that you were about as far from redundant as it gets,” Sara corrected him.

“I know, but I didn’t believe you, I didn’t believe I could fit in among you all. I thought I had to go and forge my own way in the world, and if, if you, Sara…if you didn’t need me guiding you anymore, it was time to take off the training wheels, give you room to grow and flourish, take away my micromanaging presence. Then when the Legends _broke time_ , I panicked. I hope you can understand that, at least. I wanted to make up for the mistake I’d made in giving the Legends free reign.”

“So you forcibly disbanded us?” Sara asked, standing up and stepping slightly closer. “I don’t understand how you could ever think so little of us. You were _there_ , Rip, you _helped_ us break time! How dare you act as if this is all on us?”  
She touched her cheek lightly and confirmed that as she’d feared, it was hot, which meant she’d turned beet red. Embarrassing tears sprang into her eyes and she blinked them back in frustration. She found herself staring at Rip with a searching expression, for all her anger and hurt, just desperate to know how and why it had come to this.

Rip’s mouth was slightly open as he tried to think of how he could possibly reply, and she felt her heart skip a beat when she saw that he was tearing up as well.

“I’m sorry, Sara,” He said brokenly, putting a hand to his mouth and gulping, trying as hard as she was to fight back the emotion. “I’m so sorry.”

He brushed past her and went into the living room, trying to gather himself, trying to stay calm and presentable. Maybe that was the problem that had led to this whole disaster. If they weren’t always trying to put on an act with each other, be too cool and collected and with it to admit their true feelings, would they still have ended up in this predicament?

“Five years,” Sara repeated as she stepped into the dimly lit room, sitting down beside him on the couch. “Not only did you not need me or miss me for five years, Rip, but you came back into my life just to destroy it, to refuse me the same kind of forgiveness I would’ve give to you without a second thought. And yet for some crazy reason…instead of cursing you out or running away from you, here I am. I don’t know why.”

“Don’t you?” Rip wondered, taking her face between his hands, his touch warm and somehow supplicating. “Sara, I missed the hell out of you every moment I was away. I thought it was for the best. Maybe, though…it is possible that after losing my family, running from you was a little too easy. Easier than staying around and becoming even more attached to the idea of seeing your beautiful face every day. Knowing that I would feel more for you with time, not less, that it wasn’t something I’d get over unless I put distance between us. So I did, but it didn’t change anything. Then I panicked and tried to cover up my own reasons and motivations even to myself and put more distance between us by pushing you away as hard as I ever could. And so again, Sara, I’m, I’m so sorry. To say that I’ve fucked things up would be the understatement of all time.”

Sara was struck dumb by his speech, which was a reaction she was never normally given to. His real reasons for leaving and for his actions against the Legends were tangled up in the same fear of love that had colored her own behavior since meeting him. Rip had been wrong-headed and hurtful, but now that he’d been honest with her, Sara understood his feelings and edged closer to forgiveness. But it wasn’t just that which caused her brain to lose its ability to formulate words and phrases and sentences. It was the way he’d finally dropped his pretenses with her and admitted how he felt, and the power of the revelation that her feelings were fully requited; she wasn’t in this alone, not even in fearing the love between them.

From tearfulness, Rip had worked himself up into a bit of a nervous, monologuing fever, and now his breath was coming fast, his hands having dropped from Sara’s face as her fingers reached out and took them, surprising him. The first three buttons of his shirt had been unbuttoned as he’d relaxed into post-workday mode, and Sara reached out to press her fingers to the bare skin above his heart, feeling it pound rapidly as if in answer to her touch. He looked back at Sara in amazement, as if he assumed she’d never be able to forgive his mistakes, much less return his desire, as if he thought he must be dreaming. In unison, they moved even closer, her face tilting up as their lips brushed together lightly, asking a silent question: _is this really happening?_

“Sara,” Rip murmured raggedly, then kissed her more deeply, holding her tightly against him as she climbed onto his lap. Sara could feel his hardness against her immediately and moaned against his mouth before pulling her white henley over her head, tossing it behind her without a thought.

He kissed her neck and shoulders, driving her wild as his fingertips traversed her back, sending lightning coursing through her veins, until he stopped for a moment and explained, “I want you, Sara. I have for so long. I more than want you, I…”

Before he could go any further, she cut him off with a kiss, not ready for any deep proclamations, afraid of whatever conflict was possibly still to come between them, given the way their lives had changed. Right now, Sara needed Rip so badly that she had to have him, now, without consequence, without promises. _Without false hope that this will ever be more than one night,_ She thought, melancholy trying to crush her bliss until she pushed it aside with brutal insistence.

Their kisses grew more hungry and heated as Sara unbuttoned the rest of Rip’s shirt and they laid down together, each reaching to unfasten the other’s pants immediately, which made them pause for a chuckle before everything got very serious again. His mouth, sweet and salty from the tequila, felt like it had been made to kiss hers, and God, could he kiss. Sara slipped beneath him and tugged his pants down, lightly biting his bottom lip, provoking a low growl from him that made the heat and moisture at her core intensify. Since he’d liked that so much, she mixed a few more nips in among her exploratory kissing all the way down his torso, right before he leaned down and cupped her breasts in her hands, his fingers grazing her nipples tantalizingly as Sara’s lower body strained up against him. Rip’s mouth and tongue followed where his fingers had wandered and Sara put her hands over his as he slid her panties down.

She moaned again, loving the catch of breath in his throat as he entered her, slow and smooth at first. They managed to maintain that hot, gradual intensity just a little longer before they surrendered to the pulsing pleasure that radiated from their rhythm, and soon Rip was thrusting hard and fast as Sara’s hips followed the motion eagerly, holding onto him for dear life. She cried out as a powerful orgasm rocked her body, just before his own release came and he fell against her chest, his mouth pressed between her shoulder and neck as he whispered her name.

Sara pulled his face towards hers so that she could see his expression and smiled lovingly to see that it was shy and uncertain. “I don’t want you to go,” he pleaded, reaching for a blanket from behind them. “Stay with me tonight?”

“Did you think I was going to go running for the door?” Sara smirked, tucking the blanket around them snugly before nestling her head against his chest. “It’s going to take me a while to be able to breathe normally, not to mention walk straight. Let’s be realistic.”

“If I didn’t know better, Miss Lance,” he purred more confidently, “I’d say you were complimenting my sexual prowess.”

She batted at him lightly, giggling. “Shut up. Like you need compliments to know how I feel about that topic.”

“I mean….” Rip’s voice trailed off playfully as he stroked her back, pressing a kiss to her head as she snuggled in closer and closed her eyes. “You _were_ pretty vocally expressive.”

“Damn straight,” She answered, feeling her body beginning to melt against him as slumber suggested itself so temptingly that it felt much more intoxicating than any tequila could. After all that time thinking this could never happen, here they were, in each other’s arms — cuddling no less; what more could she ever dream possible? 

She opened one eye an hour later to find that her head rested on a pillow, then looked around hazily to see that Rip must have carried her to his bed. Wow, and she hadn’t woken up? Sara had to admit that between the emotional fireworks and the…physical workout, she had been exhausted. “Rip?” She called out, and he popped back into the room, climbing into bed with her and pulling the sheets around them contentedly.

“I wanted to put the food away,” Rip explained softly.

“That'll be the breakfast of champions,” Sara agreed. She’d had an unusually late lunch and _might_ have been eating her feelings alongside those chicken tacos, so she wasn’t ravenous despite skipping dinner. The only appetite that asserted itself within her was the craving to feel Rip’s embrace again, so she returned to his arms without hesitation.

“Goodnight, Sara,” Rip replied, his smooth accent caressing the words and making her feel completely soothed and peaceful. At home.

Her face went more serious as she wondered what would happen in the morning, but she shut the idea out again, deciding that the real world could go screw itself. “Goodnight, Rip,” she said before sleep took her over again.

When morning did come, the sight that met Sara’s eyes as she sat up was just about the last one she had expected. “Rip, what are you doing?” She asked groggily.

“I made some eggs and toast, too,” he answered, as if she was inquiring about the plate of food on the table beside her, and not the fact that he was packing a traveling bag, yanking his clothes hurriedly from his closet.

“Thanks,” Sara smiled, propping some pillows behind her as she sat up and took a sip of orange juice. “What are you doing?” She repeated insistently, tossing a smaller pillow at his shoulder. He laughed and gave her that shy look again that immediately sent her mind to the gutter. Rip Hunter was way too much for her to handle, and she liked it that way.

“I’m packing my bag so that I can return to the Wave Rider with you and resume our adventures together of course,” Rip explained, adding nervously, “If you’ll have me, that is.”

“What about the Time Bureau?” Sara asked, shocked and confused. 

“Well, not to brag, but they’re such a well-oiled machine that they’ll carry on just fine without me. We might actually run into some trouble with them down the road, given the way we Legends like to tackle problems with our hearts first and our heads second.”

“'We Legends?'” Sara said in disbelief, afraid to give into the joyful sensations his words were causing. “Rip, just because you and I— you don’t have to feel like—”

“Oh, don’t be absurd, Sara,” Rip replied dismissively, his enthusiasm growing as his nervousness abated, encouraged by the happiness glowing in Sara’s face. “I don’t feel obligated to do a damn thing except get my head out of my arse and start living my life the way I should have been all along. Let’s go and find the other Legends and get back to what we do best. Poor Gideon, I’m afraid I owe her as much of an apology as I do the rest of you lot. Those recruits are smug as hell. Surprised she didn’t zap a few of them.” 

“True!" She laughed. "So about you and me,” Sara continued curiously, edging closer to him as he sat down on the bed.

“Yes, about that,” He answered with a warm smile, lacing their fingers together. “I love you, Sara Lance, and I want to be with you. How do you feel about that?”

Sara raised her eyebrows, thinking that she probably hadn’t been quite this shocked by any turn of events she’d experienced, including coming back to life. Then again, _this_ felt a little like the two of them coming back to life again in the sweetest, most irresistible way. 

She grinned like a total lovestruck geek and didn’t mind one bit that she was an embarrassing nerd for him. It felt so good that Sara was glad she’d surrendered to this particular weakness, which seemed to have the strength to lift her spirits higher than she’d ever felt. “I feel absolutely fantastic about that,” she replied ecstatically. "And by the way, you're growing the beard back."

"Noted," Rip agreed, leaning forward to kiss her. "Anything else?"

"Yeah," Sara added between the next few kisses, grinning helplessly again. "I love you, too."


End file.
